Chapter 291
A beam of violet erupted from the hodag as it shot a blast straight toward the falling tree. Kyle noted, to his disappointment, that this one wasn’t wrapped in the highly acidic sundew leaves, instead looking to be simply a large, sturdy tree with veins of gray and gold running across it.
Veins that were soon joined by dark rot as the hodag’s attack met the judgment from above, causing pieces of it to wither and break apart. It was too little, too late, as the sheer mass and velocity of the tree carried it forward, smashing into the hodag. The force of the impact was enough to shake the ground, the remaining Storm Shelters surrounding the few surviving chaddlings all carrying huge cracks as a cloud of dust and miasma rose into the air.
Still, Auric Perception told him that the hodag was still alive. Its aura had weakened considerably, the mana in the atmosphere flowing in erratic patterns as it was drawn in. Kyle braced himself as the ranged chaddling next to him lowered its cannon, preparing to fire. With the miasma as thick as it was, he didn’t want to drop the ring of barriers, as the chaddlings within would be rotted away.
So, he waited, forcehammer batons in each hand. It felt almost silly using weapons this small against such a monstrous foe, but it was the option he had left. His mana reserves were dwindling, and the constant application of Healing Impetus and Adaptive Regeneration to stymie the poison offset the natural mana recovery from Ignition. If Kyle wanted to win, he’d have to use his remaining skills judiciously.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one in dire straits. As the miasma cleared, Kyle got a better look at the aftermath of C.H.A.D.D.’s attack. A crumbling, twisted tree stood in the center of the barrier, while the heavily-injured hodag stood, panting. No vines erupted from the tree to bind it, the crater left by the attack dark and rotted. Its left forelimb was entirely gone, the wound bleeding freely. Its left horn was broken, and the entire left side of its face was a mask of blood, its eye gone as well. To most anything else, the injury would have been a fatal one. Against this monster, however, Kyle couldn’t be sure.
He dropped Storm Shelter, and the chaddlings charged as one. The hodag swiped with its remaining foreleg, taking out three, but fell onto its belly with the motion as it struggled to support its weight. The remaining chaddlings wasted no time. They closed the distance, slashing at its already heavily damaged left side. As its oily black blood covered them, Kyle saw the chaddlings begin to wither and fall. Even its blood is toxic.
As it struggled to its feet, Kyle pointed at its knee, directing the ranged chaddling’s attack. “There!”
The acorn-like soldier fired, and Kyle followed up with one of his few remaining blasts of Repel. The explosion from the razorpine seed, coupled with Kyle’s attack, was enough. There was a resounding crack as the hind leg gave out, and the creature fell to the ground. Its one remaining eye looked at Kyle with a mixture of fury, hate, and desperation, and it opened its maw wide.
Kyle dove out of the way as a frighteningly fast beam of energy poured out, destroying the ranged chaddling and rotting much of the ground where Kyle had been standing a moment before. Around it, dozens of violet orbs appeared, carrying the same sickly light as they turned into individual beams of toxic light, aiming at him as he moved.
Kyle dodged what he could, doing his best to move in erratic patterns. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough. Every time one of the lances of violet energy so much as grazed him, the toxins began to invade his system. With each, Adaptive Regeneration and Healing Impetus were taxed even more; the neurotoxins progressively slowing him down. I have to try and end this.
Rushing toward the injured hodag, Kyle angled toward its injured side, unleashing a relentless flurry of blows with his forcehammer batons. Each attack brought significantly more physical force than they had any right to, and blasts of force echoed from the batons as he tried his best to target the hodag’s vitals.
For its part, the creature struggled to rotate its lithe body to bite him, a fruitless endeavor with its injuries and blindness. No, the biggest threat to Kyle was the almost acid-like blood that splashed on him during his assault, sizzling against his flesh as more poison accumulated in his system. Parasitic Resonance was fighting, but even in the monster’s nearly-dead condition, its Willpower was too much to overcome. At least, for now.
All the while, as Kyle’s condition deteriorated, he was counting on his Unbreakable Willpower to give him an advantage. As his injuries grew, so did his power. Back during his first real test of Ignition during his Practicum, Kyle had learned to find an equilibrium when the damage from his skill improved the quality of his healing. While Adaptive Regeneration had shored up his weaknesses significantly in the time that followed, he was hoping to find a similar balance here; fighting on the razor’s edge between life and death.
So he fought. Stubbornly, even as his limbs grew sluggish, he fought. Part of him knew that this was stupid. That taking this risk was unnecessary. If he’d wanted, he could have retreated. Allowed nature to take its course, and allowed the hodag to die. Just surviving these attacks and dealing with the poison would likely have been enough to make it to Level 105. But something inside him refused to back down. When he saw the violet of the hodag’s miasma, he thought of that thrice-damned violet eye. Of Zierlan.
Kyle gritted his teeth as he kept up his attacks, ignoring the screams of protest from his body. Each strike was physically weaker, even as the power erupting from the batons reached a crescendo. C.H.A.D.D. descended from the sky, a note of worry leaking through Pack Leader’s Instinct. Still, Kyle fought on. And then it clicked.
Warmth flooded his body as something with Ignition fundamentally changed; white-hot energy coursing through him. The Core of the Parasitic Devourer seemed to stir awake as the power flowed through it, and Kyle focused all of his attention on Parasitic Resonance, the tendrils meeting fierce resistance, and then, finally, breaking through.
The hodag roared as its mana was forcibly drawn into Kyle, its own final dregs being used to refill Kyle’s own dwindling supply. Focusing on the space behind its one remaining eye, Kyle concentrated his Willpower, pushing his skills to their limits. Ignition, empowered by the Heart of Creation, wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer, but it would be enough. Kyle twisted, and the hodag collapsed.
Deactivating Ignition, Kyle stepped back, pouring as much energy as he could into Healing Impetus. The fields of violet energy that surrounded him were beginning to dissipate, even as the toxins in his body continued to rot him from the inside out.
[THAT WAS FOOLISH, DR. MAYHEW.]
Kyle was about to argue, but found he had neither the energy nor the words. “Yeah, it was.”
[YOU COULD HAVE DIED. WHAT WOULD I TELL SUIERRILLAX IF YOU DIED, DR. MAYHEW? WHAT WOULD I TELL JARBERRY?]
“I’ll do my best to stick with it,” Kyle said, his body beginning to make some headway against the toxins. “Now, where you did you leave Arhades? He’s going to need medical attention.”
[FOLLOW ME, DR. MAYHEW. BUT UNDERSTAND, THIS CONVERSATION IS NOT OVER. GAINING POWER IS ONE THING. NEEDLESSLY RISKING YOUR LIFE IS ANOTHER.]
Through their bond, Kyle felt something new from C.H.A.D.D.; anger, mixed with a deep fear. He walked after the drone, following it for almost a kilometer, where Arhades had been deposited in a bundle of vines and protections. The cocoon opened as the drone got closer, and Kyle saw the velgian inside. He didn’t look good. His skin was pallid, veins of corruption running across his body from dealing with the miasma. Each breath was ragged, inconsistent. Moreover, the mana infusing his armor looked to be almost entirely depleted. Kyle knew enough to understand that the armor provided him with some passive protections, and once those expired Arhades would be in dire straits.
No time to waste, he thought, turning his attention to the poison ravaging his patient. Healing Impetus went a long way toward stabilizing Arhades, each subsequent wave of the skill helping his Vitality fight off the effects of the poison. Soon, the traces of corruption began to fade, and the velgian’s breathing started to ease.
Once Kyle’s mana was all but spent, he ended his treatment, turning to look at the ruined battlefield. The other hodags had certainly torn up the landscape, but this was something else entirely. Entire swathes of ground were blackened and rotten, clouds of miasma skill dispersing along the ground in some places.
He couldn’t help but think about Marcus, and the battles that took place between the Originators back on Earth. What would it have been like, watching two powerhouses like this go at it? Despite Marcus not being a combat-focused C Grade, the scars he carried from the others were proof of their fights. During some of their down time since leaving the Kulhavey Manufactory, C.H.A.D.D. brought Kyle up to speed on the true nature of the mechs, each having been modeled after an Originator.
Even as D Grade replicas, their power was impressive. Kyle shuddered thinking about what a real fight would have looked like in C Grade, with entire cities reduced to ash, swept away in raging waters, or pulverized by shockwaves from the wicked blows of the Originators. How many D Grades died just getting caught in the crossfire? How many civilians?
He’d seen the aftermath of the Scourge’s attack, back on Er’Mithren, leaving no survivors. The deep scars in the canyonlands left by the shrike Matriarch were proof of her power as well. Even the C Grade hodags were deadly and destructive in their own right. Yet, looking at the aftermath of this variant hodag’s rampage, Kyle was forced to reckon with a simple fact. Other than this creature, and perhaps the Matriarch, the rest were all weaker C Grade variants. Powerful, yet somewhat mindless. Instinctive.
[YOU SEEM PERTURBED, DR. MAYHEW.]
“I’m just thinking about how much further there is to go, C.H.A.D.D. This thing was newly evolved, and it nearly killed us. I think I’ve been getting too comfortable.”
[RESPECTFULLY, I BELIEVE THAT IS THE WRONG TAKEAWAY. I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND MORE TIME TO BE COMFORTABLE. REMEMBER THE VACATION? IT WAS A NICE TIME. AN IMPORTANT TIME.]
“It was,” Kyle agreed. “And it helped us improve. If it wasn’t for you, we couldn’t have beaten that thing.”
[AND THAT IS A BAD THING, DR. MAYHEW. THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO KEEP PUSHING YOURSELF SO HARD. THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME FOR YOU TO KEEP GROWING ON YOUR OWN TIME.]
Kyle sighed. He was tired, sore, and his scars ached. “We’ll need to agree to disagree, C.H.A.D.D. Look at how hard Arhades is working. If we aren’t careful, we’ll get left behind.”
[THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH ARHADES, AND YOU KNOW THAT, DR. MAYHEW. YOU ARE CHASING A PHANTOM. A MONSTER. A CALAMITY YOU MAY NEVER HAVE TO FACE AGAIN. A CALAMITY YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO FACE AGAIN.]
Silence settled in between them as Kyle digested the words. He was just so. Damn. Tired.
He checked on Arhades, who was still resting, and then settled on the ground with his legs crossed. C.H.A.D.D. gave him a lot to ponder, but it was time for him to check on something else. He felt the telltale surge of power from gaining levels after the hodag died, and it was time for Kyle to make his Level 105 skill selection.